Synopses & Reviews
The proceedings of the conference ENTER - International Conference on Information and Communications Technologies in Tourism provide an international forum for the discussion of the role of telecommunication and information systems in tourism, inform potential users and people concerned with the importance of such technologies and to explain their functioning, and finally intensify the contact and the communication between researchers, system developers and users. Tourism and leisure industry experiences a fast technological development, however, the different participants in this market are very differently prepared to meet this challange (e. g. big airlines with their reservation systems versus a rather small structured supplier on the other side). This is the background to the discussion presented in this volume, dealing with questions like how an equal and fruitful cooperation for all participants can take place, when one should participate in this development and enter the electronic market, what are the dangers of entering too early or too late, whether the environment is prepared for such a development, and what can be learned from other sectors. The results of this discussion are of interest for scientists, researchers and practitioners in tourism as well as in the computer industry.
Synopsis
The conference ENTER - International Conference on However, the tourist market has several specific characteristics Information and Communications Technologies in Tourism with regard to the use of technological infrastructure: represents a fll'St attempt - On the demand side computerized reservation and general - to provide an international forum for the discussion of the distribution systems (eRS and GDS), managed by big role of telecommunication and information systems in airlines, are well organized and technological pioneers. In tourism, the past they typically focused on the business traveller, - to inform potential users and people concerned with the nowadays they also try to cover the vacation sector. These importance of such technologies and to explain their systems work on a world-wide level and are highly functioning sophisticated. However, it should be added that the - to give an opportunity to the research community, nowadays information provided is rather poor and also selective, scattered into different areas of research, to discuss their which may restrict its usefulness for the promotion of an results on a common platform, and, fmally, entire tourist region. - to intensify the contact and the communication between - Similar to CRSlGDS several tour operators have begun to develop their own systems, although with varying success. researchers, system developers and users.